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Pokemon, it's one of Nintendo's most popular franchises ever consisting of over 40 games. Now, HeartGold and SoulSilver are being releases state-side in about a month. I thought now would be the time to talk about Pokemon Platinum.
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were released here in the US on April 22 2007. If you know about pokemon games, you'd know that over time, two games in a generation form to form the same game, just with a few new features. Exactly 1 year and 11 months later (really, EXACTLY) Pokemon Platinum was released in the US and Platinum was the formation of Diamond and Pearl.
For those of you that are new to the pokemon franchise, here's the basic premise. You are a pokemon trainer, (well you WILL be at least) a person who captures and trains creatures called pokemon to fight other trainers pokemon, you collect gym badges (8 in total) and once you have them all, you can move on to the Elite 4 and the pokemon champion the most powerful trainers in the region. That's really all there is to it. There is one more thing though, there is a group, a 'gang' if you will, who take pokemon and use them for evil. They (most of the time) are trying to harness the power of a very powerful pokemon called a legendary pokemon, and it's up to you a 10 year old kid (-_-) to stop them!
Anyway, now that we're done with that, on with the review. Pokemon plays like any RPG, you go to a city, do something there, then go to another city, do something there, rinse and repeat. Now, I'm an RPG fanboy and I've done stuff like this millions of times and it does get repetitive after about the 4th gym. There are points in the game where the game asks you to do things that are off the beaten path, but these rarely happen and even they kinda follow the concept of go somewhere, do something, and leave.
Now, you can build a team of up to 6 pokemon and there are no restrictions. Every pokemon has up to 2 types and these types signify it's strengths, weaknesses, and the moves it can/can't learn. Pokemon's battle system follows a 'rock paper scissors' format. Every type is strong against other types, (Water>Fire) and weak against other types (Water<Grass) You must use your pokemon's type to your advantage. Your opponent through out a Fire type Pokemon? Use a Water type, Your Opponent switch to a Grass type? Take the water type out of battle! Though, not only pokemon have types, but moves do also. Moves types determine whether the attack is super effective (more damage) or not verry effective (less damage) But a Water type isn't restricted to water oriented moves Gyarados (Water, Flying) can learn Flamethrower (Fire(Duh)) for example. This system may sound boring and repetitive, but it works and is exploited because your rival will always have a starting pokemon with a type advantage over yours. Also, say your at the Water Gym, and don't have a good pokemon that's strong against water, your going to have a hard time with that gym.
Now Pokemon is an RPG, so there is obviously leveling. But it's not you who levels, it's your Pokemon. When Pokemon gain enough Experience (exp) they level up, which increases their stats and they might learn a new move. Now, there is also a feature exlusive to Pokemon called evolving. When Most Pokemon reach a certain level they evolve into a more powerful form. Some pokemon completely change during evolution a weak and useless pokemon may turn into a very powerful pokemon through evolution. Now, there is a way to stop your pokemon from evolving. You can either press B during the evolution process, or give your pokemon the everstone item. Now I really don't see the point of not evolving your pokemon. They learn more powerful moves at earlier levels sure, but they don't get health, attack ,defence, etc. given when you evolve. Now, there is one thing you should know before playing Pokemon, or any RPG for that matter, but especially Pokemon. There will be a LOT of level grinding. I've found that most of the time I'm raising My weaker Pokemon so that they don't suck and it can get very annoying.
Another thing I don't like about Pokemon in general is well, let me put it this way, I just reviewed every pokemon game (well, mainstream anyway) and because Platinum is a reboot of Diamond and Pearl, there is very little seperating it from those games. There are a couple things, some trainers have different teams then before, there are a couple new characters, and the interface and how some story elements play out (like how you get your staring Pokemon) But that's really it.
Now with what I've been saying, you may think I don't like this game, but I do, it's a fantastic entry in the pokemon franchise and any pokemon fan should go out and buy it.
